Closure holding and securing means



w DUQUETTE I CLOSURE HOLDING AN'D SECURING MEANS.

PatentedIMay 3, 1921;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM IDUQUETTE, OF TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO JOHNSON- RANDALL (30., OF TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN.

- g oLosuRE HOLDING AND SECURING MEANS.

Application filed August 25, 1919.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM DUQUETTE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Traverse City, in the county of Grand Traverse, State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Closure Holding and Securing Means, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in closure holding and securing means particularly adapted, though not necessarily limited in its use for refrigerator doors.

Refrigerators and receptacles, after being manufactured, are usually given a coating of enamel, paint, varnish or the like, and the doors are usually allowed to remain open until the coating has become dry. After drying, the doors are closed and locked, and the refrigerators stored until ready for shipment.

In removing the refrigerators from storage, such as loading them into cars for shipment, they are frequently subjected to a considerable and sudden change of temperature which causes the parts to sweat and the doors to stick, with the result that the doors can be opened only with difliculty and with the further result that when the doors are forced open, the enamel is chipped and cracked, marring the refrigerators and presenting a very unsightly appearance, and with the still further result that the refrig erators must then be shipped back to the factory for repairs.

To overcome these and other difiiculties and objections and to provide an attachment which may be readily applied to the refrigerators, preferably to the door lock, and by means of which the door will be held and secured in a partly open position and maintained in such position during the shipment thereof, and which attachment may be readily removed without marring the parts, is one of the objects of this in vention.

A further object is to provide an attachment of this character which may be readily applied. and which may as readily be re moved by simply actuating the door catch,

thereby obviating the necessity of using any tool or implement to remove the attachment or open the door.

To the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of other new and useful Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 3, 1921.

Serial No. 319,652.

objects, as will appear, the invention consists in the features of novelty in substantially the construction, combination and arrangement of the several parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings illustrating this invention and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a refrigerator having an attachment applied thereto constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention and showing the attachment in position, holding the door slightly open.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the locking means showing the normal position of the parts after the attachment has been removed.

Fig. 3 is a view of a blank from which the attachment is made.

Referring more particularly to thedrawing, the numeral 10 designates generally a refrigerator having a door opening 11, and the door or closure 12, which latter is preferably mounted by means of the hinges 13 usually used with refrigerators.

The locking means for the door may be of any ordinary and well-known construction, comprising a pivotally mounted catch member 14 having a laterally deflected extremity 15 and an operating handle 16, all of which are mounted in the usual manner upon the door or closure 12 near the edge thereof. The strike member 17 of the catch is secured to the refrigerator proper in such a manner that when the door is closed, the extremity 15 of the catch member will en gage the deflected edge 18 of the member 17 to automatically lock the door in a manner as is well-known.

The attachment by means of which the door is adapted to be held open and secured in such position during shipment and at other times, is constructed preferably of a single piece of pliable sheet material 19 of any desired size and configuration, but is preferably of a shape to produce an elongated body portion adjacent one encl of which is provided an aperture 20 passing therethrough, and the body portion is provided at its other end with fingers or projections 2122 which may be of any de sired size and configuration, and the attachment thus formed is adapted to be constructed in a single operation.

relation, but slightly separated.

In use, the refrigerator door is opened,

interposed between the two elements of the refrigerator lock. The attachment is held in position by Hanging or deflecting the proections 21-22 around the strike member so that one of the projections will enter the recess 23 which is provided to receive the projection 15 of the catch; Before the catch is secured to the strilre member 17, the attachment is connected with the catch member 16 by inserting the lateraliy projected extremity 15 thercofinto the opening 20 andthen closing the refrigerator door to such an extent that the projections 2122 .f the member 19 may be bent around the strike member 17 as above described and as shown in Fig. 1.

With this improved construction, it will be manifest that the door of the refrigerator will be secured and held in a partly open position during storage or shipment, and with the catch members secured in a locking This will permit the air to circulate between the parts so that they will become thoroughly dry and the door will not stick from an effect of the change of temperature or climatic conditions. Furthermore, by securing the parts in the manner shown, the door will be prevented from swinging open and shut when the refrigerator is being moved.

WVhen it is desired to open the door, all that is necessary is to grasp the handle 16 of the catch and operate it in the same manner as when opening the door of a refrigerator. This operation will cause the extremity 15 of the catch to draw the attachment 19 from the strike member 17, the pliable extensions 21-422 yielding under such strain to permit the detachment of the element 19, attachment will then drop from the extremity 15 of the catch and the door and lock therefor can be operated in the ordinary and usual manner. 7

' WVhile the preferred form of the attach- THO 'ment has been herein shown and described,

it is, of course, to be understood that 'inany changes may be made in the construction and in the method of application of the at- .tachment, without departing from the spirit of this invention.

What I claim as new is 1.' The combination of a refrigerator, a closure therefor, a lock for the closure and embodying interengaging and separable elements, one of the elements being secured to the closure and the other to the refrigerator, and an element constructed of sheet ma terial and interposed between the lock elements for holding the door in a slightly open and immovable position, thesecond recited element having an opening to receive one of the lock elements, and a portion of the said interposed element being bent around the other of the lock elements.

2. The combination of a refrigerator, a closure therefor, a lock for the closure and embodying interengaging and separable elements, one of the elements being secured to the closure and the other to the refrigerator,

and an element constructed of sheet material and interposed between the lock elements for holding the door in a slightly open but immovable position, the second recited element having an opening to receive one of the lock elements, and a portion of the said interposed element being bent around the other of the lock elements, the said interposed ele ment being adapted to bev freely detached from the lock elements by a strain created thereon by the manipulation of one of the lock elements with relation to the other lock element. 7

3. As an article of manufacture, a closure holding and securing means for attachment to the closure lock, the same embodying a substantially fiat body portion having an aperture adjacent one end thereof and one or more flexible ears or projections adjacent 

